Game Attack Animation - making it better!

Aloha compadres! This post epitomizes what I love about working in the entertainment industry - constant development and an environment that thrives on giving and receiving criticism. Refining toward clarity and appeal. I had done a quick animation exercise a while back and was pretty happy with the results. It's a quick video game style animation that can pose blend at either end.

With all animation I was trying to keep in mind clear posing, anticipation, overlapping action, weight, character, compressions, timing and spacing among a myriad of other things

Earlier version: (the videos are better on youtube since they don't crop the widescreen format)

After showing it to a few animator friends (Thanks Allen, Scott and Stephanie) it became apparent that although I had learned a lot creating the shot, there was still more I could be taught by revising the shot.

I revised the shot paying particular attention to spacing. Spacing is everything!!! Spacing imbues animation with weight in the relationships between 3 frames, every frame has to matter. Taking the time to learn again from the feedback led to more and more learning in a shot that I was satisfied with earlier. Growth isn't only making more of something, but realizing where correction is possible and applying it wherever needed (past, present and future).

I also took a stab at compositing the Maya renders with multiple layers of painted backgrounds to create a richer environment.

Here's to forever learning, forever growing.

 Gifted is a "mini short" I've had some fun on lately. How many of you have received a great gift like this little guy? What was it?

After doing sketches I filmed my son opening a mystery box. There were so many fun little things he did; I also learned that a 4yr old can't open a present in under 30 seconds but they can make a mess in less than 5.

Enjoy.

Animation WIP - I ain't wearing that

Whoah, in the past few month I have literally been from coast to coast in the US, from the northern and southern edges as well. I've been involved in some exciting new technologies in film and worked with some great people.

In between all of fun work and family adventures, I've been working on a few side projects. This work in progress animation is one of those.  I took an audio clip from Hancock and have had a blast re-envisioning it with a few rigs from Animation Mentor.

Here is a rough block pass on the whole sequence from a couple weeks ago.

I hope you enjoy. Any feedback is welcome.

Bop It!

Bop It was game that spent the longest time in development, but it is also one that has the most depth in user experience. The changes went back and forth trying to find engaging gameplay and visuals to reinforce that gameplay; it was tight since we developed the whole game in about eight months. 

I want to include a little bit of the process here to emphasize how fluid the development process is- it's awesome- good ideas get exchanged for better ideas, weak ideas are left behind, and there is a lot of listening and responding to other. A lot of listening goes a long way. 

At first, the game hid the avatars in a capsule of sorts and you could see it rocking out. Cool to see, but not experience. The second version was a big screen the avatar stood in front of...that seemed redundant and removed the experience away from the toy interaction. The third or fourth version brought in a ring on the floor around the avatar, followed by the idea to nix the avatar and create a circular construct to play with.

Lastly, tie the good aspects of all those ideas together and add richer visual cues through the environment...bingo, you've got BopIt! Below is a lighting color script for gameflow, to reduce scope and improve stage consistency we dropped the set entrance. I know FGN isn't a AAA title, but it was great to work on for it's fast pace, open direction, and the folks at Wahoo Studios can't be beat. Cheers.

Sorry Sliders and Yahtzee

As promised here is more of the concept art I did for FGN: The Game Show. All images copyrighted by EA and Hasbro.

There are two games that occur in the same stage space in the game- Yahtzee and Sorry Sliders. It was fun to make sure each game had it's own flavor but not feel like the player was being transported to a different space.

 You may have noticed the changing colors of the pillars and spotlights. For each of the games I created a mini-color script to give variety and unity, that was fun. I was also asked to design in a Mr Potato Head statue that was never used. We were going to have a figure skating MPH figure, but we were asked not to have a cross-dressing potato. Go figure!

Kudos to the programmers on this one, they did some great work with the Kinect system to recognize all the different ways you could push a 6.5ft bowling ball and giant Sorry Slider.

Junk Fu= Whack-a-mole+Guitar Hero+Fruit Ninja

My latest game to be released, Junk Fu for the Kinect Fun Labs, was amazing to see being developed. What started out as an "urban ninja training ground" shifted to a "retail rampage," then "cosmic karate." The game solidified as a "martial arts trash smash-athon".  Everything was meant to look distressed and worn out, a futuristic junkyard with outrageous props for destruction. Here are some of my pieces from the game.

The paintings below were quick concept painting, no more than a few hrs. that show possible gameplay environments. I even painted donuts for one of the concepts! Note that the final and purple/pink one use strict 1 point perspective. It was decided to fake 3D and have either the world or the objects advance. In the end we did a little of both.

In gaming and animation you truly check your egos at the door, everyone is willing let their contributions be discarded/ molded to help make the whole better. Even though there were some wonderful ideas, we worked together to get the best option for out scope, team, and time. Casey D. and Shawn worked on the art with me (Shawn concepted the items to be destroyed and Casey made them look amazing as well as do the final UI elements)

All work it copyrighted by Microsoft. So don't be a hosehead and steal stuff that's not yours.

A handful of bad bikers for Road Rage - character concepts

Here is a page of character designs from my sketch book. I sketched these guys a couple months ago and finally got around to painting them this week. It's a television series concept that follows a biker gangs on their road escapades. Of course each gang is full of steroid pumped stereotypes. Any favorites or suggestions for improving the gang?

Process Blitz-Story Goals

May I introduce "Spectacle", the short story concept I'll be developing during the Process Blitz. Any comments or critiques are welcome.

Objectives
1-Theme in 3 words: Prejudice, Wonder, Friendship
2-Synopsis in 1 sentence: An eager boy, although blinded by others prejudices, finds an unexpected friend in a traveling circus.
Synopsis in 3 sentences: Curious boys await the arrival of circus oddities. A frenzy of fear and prejuduce leaves one boy blind to the dazzling show. A peculiar friend help the boy see clearer than ever.
Synopsis in 3 paragraphs: When a circus poster appears in a 1880's town, curiosity runs wild in the imagination of 4 young boys. Each conjures up a fearsome and fabulous spectacle. Fables and fabrications about the circus beasts feed the curiosity of one boy and plant seeds of prejudices in the other boys. Interest circles around Jumbo, a bizarre mammoth creature that Barnum & Bailey are debuting. A twisted curiosity draws the boys to the show.

At the show the boys both jeer and cheer extraordinary feats, modern technologies. As Jumbo is announced reactions ripple through the crowd, in the commotion one of the boy's glasses falls into the performing ring. The boy is left blind as Jumbo emerges to a mixed chorus of cheers, screams, jeers, and applause.

Straining to see and trying to gauge the crowd, the boy is frozen with fear when a trumpeting blast sounds next to him. Apprehension settles when the glasses are delivered in the trunk of an elephant. The boy sees past the odd exterior to the gentle giant's heart. He utters his amazement and embraces the trunk. End

3-Primary Characters: Boy, Jumbo, Friends (representing Fear, Ignorance, & Disgust). Secondary Character: Ringmaster
4-Character Map:

Character Design with Chris Oatley

Aloha, this week I had a blast recording a podcast episode with DTS artist Chris Oatley of Chris Oatley's Artcast. If you haven't checked out his show... shame on you, . We talked shop about continuing artistic development, networking strategies for the entertainment industry, and character development technique. I'm constantly learning from the great talents everywhere, here are some things I picked up recently. Feel free to leave your own criticisms and suggestions.

I started developing some sketches for a Sci-Fi concept. Chris took one look and sent me to a great resource The Skillfull Huntsman, the book that takes a Grimm Bros Fairytale through early concept development as if it were a real production. Here's my first sketch (1.25hrs) and some areas that instantly stood out for improvement after picking up the book.

I wanted to try some of the exercises mentioned in the book. Here are a couple of the principles The Skillfull Huntsman put forward:

Compare Apples to Apples-Using the same basic pose and create various designs varing scale, pattern, positive and negative space, etc. Here are a two of mine using one pose.
A good silhouette holds endless possibilities-After I was satisfied with the outline of a character, I try to see the different possibilities within the one form. By imagining a different place, time, gender, technology, etc. I came up with these two drastically different characters, each one has a different story & personality. What character do you see?

Did you know Luke Skywalker started out as a girl in Ralph McQuarrie's drawings and evolved into the character we know today. The initial design process is to mine the creative depths of an concept; establish a strong appropriate silhouette and build from there. Avoid jumping to the details like I did in my first drawing.

Check out these great character designers- Awesome forms. Joe Olson, Nicolas Marlet (Kungfu Panda), and Peter de Seve
More to come as I explore this world and other projects.